Death's Favorite Child

10. Road trip (2)

A girl, Helena, was sitting on a rock watching her brother training early in the morning. No matter how many times she saw him, she was always in awe. A year ago, her brother was not much of a martial arts expert and didn't have any magical aptitude. He was a bubbly and happy boy, always smiling and being nice to people. He was chatty and many times would drive their parents mad with his talkative nature.

Somehow, this one year, he changed. He barely talks and rarely smiles anymore. He is efficient in everything he does, eating, sleeping, training. He doesn't waste time, resources, or even words. Three times per day, they stop, and her brother trains for two hours while she watches him and studies the material he bought from the mercenary guild.

His training is gruesome. First, he trains his body and stamina, and then he trains his powers.

These powers are strange. She learned about magic at school, but this is not included in any book.

"Brother, you know that your powers are weird, right?" she asked the boy.

"How?" he responded.

"Well, there are three kinds of people involved in magic. First, people that have mana. They can use raw mana to push, pull, or create shields. If they also have an elemental affinity, they can convert raw mana into water, fire, earth, or wind elements. Rarely, a person can have two elementals. Our current King is one of those exceptions." explained Helena.

"The other two kinds?" asked the boy impatiently.

"The other kinds are rune crafters and alchemists. These are people that go through long training. They don't have mana aptitude, so they use the crystals of magical beasts to imbue their creations with magic." concluded the girl. She then added,

"What you have, well..., I've never seen or heard anything like it. Not in books or even folklore stories. Water elementalists can create fog, but this is regular fog from water. Yours is different... Hmm... It's dry and cold -- not cold as in low temperature but as in 'I feel ice in my soul'. It also moves as you move, like it's centered around you." said the girl, struggling to get the words to explain,

"Then, there are those blades! It's like they are made of darkness. And, your eyes! When you use your powers, they become pitch black! It's so scary..." the girl said and shivered at the mere thought.

"I understand. Please keep my abilities secret. At least, until we take back our home." said the boy and then added,

"How about the soul crashing spell I was attacked with?"

"Oh, only priests and demons can wield soul spells. These are not normal magic spells." the girl said with sorrow in her voice, reminded of that dreadful voice.

The Captain thought deeply, 'Priests or demons? Not sure who is the worst enemy.'. If he had to go with his experience from Earth, the Church was indeed the most formidable enemy. Not a problem for now, though.

Helena watched as her brother returned to his training without a word, releasing his domain and trying to stretch it as much as he could to increase the area of influence. She trembled and thought, 'He looks exactly like a villain from old stories...'

= * =

That evening, they received the first unexpected visitors at their campsite. A group of bandits that had been terrorizing this area for years surrounded them. This was the same group that had killed their parents more than a year ago. What the boy suspected, and he was right, was that the bandits were collaborating with his uncle; and that even the attack on their parents was not a random act.

"What do we have here?" said one of the bandits loudly. He was a muscular man in his 30s with several scars. He was holding a short sword. He seemed to be the boss of this ragtag group of 12 misfits. Some were old and some young, with ages ranging from 17 to 50 years old. They were not very strong, but they fought dirty, using poisoned blades and arrows, traps, and the element of surprise. That's how they managed to kill their parents and their guards a year ago.

Today, the bandits felt confident. Their collaborator paid them good money to take care of two children. They didn't bother lacing the blades with poison or even setting an ambush.

"Don't you know that little children shouldn't be running around on their own? Bad people are roaming this place. Hahaha..." he laughed loudly, and the rest of his men joined. They all held swords, maces, and daggers, and moved to encircle the two siblings. The group had one magician, a fire elementalist, that was standing in the back and looked bored.

"I would say the same thing to you, but I don't think you will be alive to heed the advice." replied the boy coldly, and the group was startled. They expected to see fear and terror in his eyes -- the same as they saw in the girl. After all, they were surrounded with no hope for support.

"You! I'll cut your tongue and feed it to the beasts! Hahaha... Catch them alive so we can have some fun!" yelled the boss and jumped forward, closing the distance rapidly towards the boy.

"Helena, as we practiced." the boy said and saw Helena running next to their horse, taking out a dagger, and hiding.

Immediately, the boy's eyes turned black and a black fog emerged from the ground. The first to feel the change was the enemy mage. He felt a rush of power and a sense of terror surrounding him. The boy's domain was already surrounding Helena, their campsite, and the bandits. Everything was covered in black fog.

The bandits stumbled a bit and then stopped in their tracks and tried calling each other. They couldn't see anything. It was like all the light in the world disappeared. It was as if they stepped into the Underworld.

Suddenly, shouts of terror and despair could be heard all around. The boss saw some flames from the elementalist piercing the fog, but after a second, the fire died. He started shouting the names of his men and stumbled towards, what he thought, was the exit of this foggy nightmare. He could only hear screams of terror, close and distant. The fog felt cold and powerful like it was reaching into his spine and trying to tear it apart.

Then, there was silence. He called his men's names again, but the only thing he could hear was his heart drumming as if it would break through his chest. 'What happened? Where is everyone? I need to get out!' were the thoughts in his mind.

He saw the fog parting and a figure manifesting a few meters in front of him. The boy stood there. He was the same but looked bigger, like the figure in front of him was an illusion, and the real person was a giant. 'Death' was the first word that popped into his mind.

"Aaahhhhh!" he screamed and started running in the opposite direction of the boy. But it was like the fog was impeding his movement, like he was walking in the sand.

He turned around, only to see a dark blade at the hands of the boy. 'Death', the word screamed in his mind again. Everything went dark for the boss of the bandits. The boy didn't even ask for his name. The rest of the bandits were already dead, littering the ground around the fog with an equally distorted face.

The fog dispelled quickly, and only the disturbed ground where the bodies were buried could be seen. The boy had used his dominion inside the dark fog to swallow the bandits into the earth. He didn't want his sister to see their faces or their bodies.

"Come out, Helena. It's over." the boy said calmly.

"Are they gone?" reacted the girl, still quivering.

"Yes. They'll never bother anyone again." replied the boy, walking towards her.

Helena wasn't sure if she was more scared of the bandits or her brother at this moment. 'Did a demon come back in her brother's body?' She quickly dismissed the thought and hugged her brother, releasing her tears.

Later that night, when the boy was alone, he unfolded the dark wings from inside his body. With the thugs at the capital and the bandits now, he realized that every time he killed someone with the dark blades, he felt a tingling on his back. Looking at the wings, he noticed that there were some feathers on them. A bit more than a dozen feathers adorned the wings at various places —the same number of people he killed.

Hey Captain, you still look like a plucked chicken, but there is definitely a change. What do you think this means?, said Jon giggling.

The Captain shrugged and folded back the wings into his body. He then released his dark fog domain, shrouding and protecting their camping area where Helena was sleeping calmly.